It’s a powerful question that I often ask people when meeting with them.  Almost every time the question is followed by silence, that at times becomes uncomfortable.  The truth is many of us are going through the motions and too often, the emotions of a life without direction, goals or sadly, purpose.

The great speaker and write Zig Ziglar said “how can you hit a target you don’t have?”  Seriously, how can you?

While I was attending college (as a commuter), I moved from working at a Savings & Loan (and now you know that I am old!), to selling insurance and securities.  I was good at selling insurance and securities.  I was praised by coworkers, my boss, my boss’s boss to the heights of the giant organization.  I was so good that I won a Gold Record and qualified for a trip with the Chairman of the org.  Awesome!  Just one small issue.  I hated selling insurance and had only approached this as a stepping stone of learning to my goal.  What I wanted.

As a young kid, I loved the outdoors.  No question some of my love of hunting and fishing is that is where I connected most closely with my dad.  And I wanted to pursue a career in the outdoor sports industry.  So, as a young man in my early twenties, a sales manager at the nation’s largest outdoor sports distributor agreed to interview me as a favor to his former boss, my friend’s dad and an early mentor to me.  

I killed it in the interview.  Connecting with the sales manager, talking outdoor stuff and just general life things that made it clear we were on the same page.  We weren’t.  The sales manager said “you will do well in this industry.  You just need 10-20 years retail experience.”  Wait, what?  I literally said to him, “I don’t have 20 years to wait.  I want to start now.”  I was a little too arrogant but sincere in that statement.  I told him that I would prove to him how much I wanted the job.

So began a period of absolute tenacity.  I called the sales manager every Tuesday at 10:00 am, asking if a job was available?  Wherever I was, whatever I was doing, I made that call.  For 14 months straight.  Never missed a call.  The result was he and I became friends.  I got to know about his wife, son and daughter.  His daughter’s graduation.  His father’s passing.  His anniversary.  He grew to know we.  He became a cheerleader to the insurance salesman, congratulating me on my achievements and asking to buy insurance from me.  I declined to sell him something because I told him ‘that I would be working for him soon.’  Maybe not as good a salesperson as I thought I was.

The week came that I was to be recognized and awarded the Gold Record for rookie sales in the 75 year-old region where no one had ever won the award before.  The EVP of the company had flown in to present the award to me and talk with me about becoming the youngest regional manger in the history of the company.  It was a Wednesday.  I had made my call to the outdoor sports sales manager the day before.  Still no jobs available!

As my insurance office prepared for the presentation, someone said ‘Myron, you have a call.’  I answered and it was the outdoor sports sales manager who said, “I just fired a guy who had the Northeast Ohio sales territory.  It’s yours if you want it…if you promise to stop calling me every Tuesday at 10:00 am.’  I immediately answered, “I’ll take it.  No promises on stopping the Tuesday call.”  I proceeded to walk out, accept the award, quit my job, express my sincere appreciation and come clean that I hated selling insurance.

So, I moved to Canton, Ohio, thoroughly unprepared for the discipline of character needed to live in a new place without a proper support structure.  And by the way, absolutely killing it as a territorial outdoor sales representative for my new company.  Quadrupling sales in the first year.  Setting records and quickly overcoming the $15K the territory had paid the year before and eclipsing the significant income I had walked away from because of what I wanted.  Did I mention that the new job was 100% commission and I paid all expenses?  Man, I love risks to a fault.  Not quite as much now as I did 30 years ago, but still willing to take risks to achieve goals.

I want to convey that the lessons are in the journey.  Unknown only becomes known if we’re willing to take a step.  Risks can be mitigated by a committed desire to learn.  Success comes from the recognition that failure is only a step in the walk, of the trek, of the journey, that leads to a perpetual destination continually extending beyond “here.”  There is no ‘here,’ only next.  It’s the experiences that are where value and contentment are found.  

In two years I had taken the 178th performing territory out of 178 territories to the 2nd performing territory.  And would have been number 1 had I not learned to love golf and carousing.  (Another story.). The sales manager asked me, what’s it like to achieve what you want?  I said, “I’ll let you know.”  And then explained that I wanted his job within 2 years, to handle merchandising in 5 years, to be a VP in 10 years and a President within 15 years.  BAG baby!  Big, Audacious, Goals!  I achieved them all in 7 years and was miserable beyond understanding.

What did I want?  What I achieved almost caused me to end my life.  ‘What did I want’ came walking up to me as I was drunk in the VIP section of a bar in Akron, Ohio and was exactly what I had told myself that I did not want.  God knew that she was exactly what  I needed.

Ask me to today what I want and the answers are very, very different.  But the want is still there, coupled with a better understanding that the best ‘wants’ are delivered by helping meet needs.  

I will forever cherish those 56 calls at 10:00 am on Tuesday mornings.  They were the reminder that what I wanted was worth the effort.  They were the catalyst to a career that has rewarded, shaken, changed and humbled me.  They were the 56 steps that began a journey of life experience that I would not change for anything.  

There’s more to this story that is the basis of what I want right now.  More to come.

What do you want?  Let’s find it.